6/6/15

Whistler, B.C.

We arrived in Whistler, B.C., yesterday. We made a two-day trip of it. As we traveled north on Interstate 5, the traffic got very heavy in Tacoma and stayed heavy until we reached the northern reaches of Everett...which is a long way to be in stop and go heavy traffic, let me tell you. We were very happy to reach our final destination in Lynden, Washington. It took the driver a little while to relax once we got settled, but it was a very nice campground.


Rosyquilter shared with me that her favorite quilt shop, Tangled Threads, was located in Lynden. We had in mind to drive north and stop just before crossing the border for the first night. When I looked at the map and discovered Lynden right at a perfect stopping point, I wasted no time checking the hours for the quilt shop. It was not lost on Mike that I checked on the quilt shop before looking for an RV park. We often end up in places with great quilt shops only to find the quilt shop closed for the weekend, or else just closed because their hours won't work for these two travelers. This one was open daily 9-5, and so it was a perfect place to stop.

The RV park was in a beautiful scenic area, and the town of Lynden is an idyllic farming community seated just west of Mt. Baker, about ten miles from the Canadian border.



It was a beautiful morning the next morning, but a little hazy. Look carefully, and you can see Mt. Baker in the background in the image above and below. The image below shows you the Nook Sack River, which flowed just to the north of the RV park. The RV park isn't visible in this image, but it was just outside the frame on the right side.


When we got up the next morning, we had a nice breakfast at Our Diner before heading to the quilt shop. I'll tell you about that in a separate post. (It was a good one, so thanks Rosyquilter!) After spending some time at the quilt shop, we made our way across the border into Canada.


We had absolutely no trouble getting across. They asked us if we had guns (no), tobacco (no), alcohol (yes, but apparently nothing they cared about), eggs (yes, one that was hard boiled) and poultry (no). They waved us through, confiscating nothing.


When we reached the Canadian side, we were in Langley township.


We crossed this really snazzy bridge across Burrard Bay, which was supposed to be a toll bridge. At no point did we see any way to pay said toll.


Here we go!


When we reached the other side, we appeared to be on the right road.


Just outside of Vancouver, we got into a terrible traffic jam. It took us a full hour to go ten miles. Oy.


Finally, we reached the scene of the accident.


Once we got past that, it was smooth sailing. And just to take the sting out of it a little...


we got to go through a tunnel right away. You know how excited we get about tunnels.


The drive to Whistler was stunningly beautiful. We drove past Horseshoe Bay in Vancouver and then north along the waterfront known as the Georgia Strait.


I was sitting on the wrong side, and so my pictures are all taken through the windshield.


I'm hoping you can get some idea of the beautiful scenery despite the crappy pictures.



We made our way to Squamish, where we stopped to pick up just a few more things we needed that we hadn't tried to cross over with...eggs for one, but also some apples and some lettuce, and a few other things. Then, we made our way on up to the timeshare.


We got there a little early, and so we drove around Whistler for a bit waiting for our friends to arrive. And this is Green Lake...just as green as it looks in the image below.



When Tom and Deb got there, we were able to move everything in and relax for the evening. It was quite hot as we moved all our crap from truck to room, and so we were ready for some tasty refreshing beverages when that was all done. This is the view from our deck:



Standing at the far corner of the deck, looking back at the timeshare, you can see where we're staying. It's very nice.


Dinner was simple, and we gabbed well into the night until all us old folks were bleary eyed.

This morning we toured around Whistler Village for a bit. You might recall that Whistler was the site of the 2010 Winter Olympics, and so we had the requisite picture taken in front of the Olympic rings.


We also visited a nice park where there were kids swimming. It all looked very inviting until we realized there were leaches in the water. Yikes.


Apparently this didn't bother the folks allowing their little kids to swim there. One woman allowed as how her child was "wigged out" by leaches and she "had no idea why". I could think of several good reasons, but I kept my ideas to myself. I've been known to be over-protective, after all. (But really, and with more enthusiasm...yikes.)

It was, however beautiful and so scenic.


Here's a pano of the whole area. Remember, you can click on the image to make it larger.


You can see the ski runs on the mountain.


And if you like that sort of thing, here's a little map showing you what you're looking at.


There were a lot of Shasta swallowtail butterflies flitting around and landing on the sandy lakeshore. My understanding is that they're interested in the moisture and the salt they find there.




Here are Tom and Deb enjoying the view.


We had lunch and gelato at Whistler Village and then headed back to our "condo" to relax, which pretty much brings you up to date.

Here are just a few more images of things that caught my eye today. (Stealing your bit, Katie...hope you don't mind.)



Remember this image from the beach a few weeks ago?


Here's Whistler's version:


If I keep seeing Adirondack chairs lined up like this, I might have to make a quilt of them.

So that's it from me. I'm finding blogging time scarce, but I'll keep trying to update you. It's good for me to write while it's still fresh in my mind, so it's a double-your-pleasure kind of thing. Hope all goes well at your end.

11 comments:

Junebug613 said...

Sorry to hear about the traffic delays. I was giggling at the checking on the quilt shop before the RV park. Sounds like something I would get in trouble for. What a lovely condo view! Eww on the leaches.... Can't even fathom that whole scenario..... Ewww...

Julianne said...

Wow what a beautiful place! Enjoy!

Betty said...

Your pictures are great, even through the windshield! I'm glad you made it across the border with all your food in tact.

Ellen said...

Beautiful pictures.....sure makes me want to be there. Have a wonderful time!

Dar said...

Beautiful scenery. Wish I were there with you! Have fun.

LethargicLass said...

steal away :) It all looks so lovely!

sunny said...

It's all so beautiful!

quiltzyx said...

Well, if you didn't say you were shooting through the windshield, I wouldn't have known. Didn't see any bugs!
Sorry you hit all that traffic...and people make it seem like there's only traffic in L.A.! At least you got some fabulous views to make up for it.

Brown Family said...

Beautiful area. Goof friends, good food and good fun!

Kate said...

Wow! What a gorgeous place! Enjoy all that lovely scenery. (When I was in WA in April that trip from the Tacoma Airport through Seattle took forever, traffic was heavy for miles outside of town!)

Sandra W said...

I meant to write this on your "Canadians are nice" post. Yes, we are nice.
Here's a famous Canadian joke:
How do you get a bunch of Canadians out of a swimming pool?
Answer: Okay. Everybody out of the pool.

That says it all!